Thundercloud over Urk
Paul Oudshoorn, 27-05-2011.
After the seventeenth round the face of the coach of the KNDB-team was very cloudy and there was a thundercloud over Urk. Perhaps the results were not the best, but still everything went pretty fine for the Dutch. Three draws was a satisfactory result, when you take an objective view at the games.
Georgiev-Meurs ended in an excellent division of points for Meurs. It must be said that Georgiev played on the safe side, now that a world title is so close. After all he only has to play a draw against Wiebe van der Wijk tomorrow. Wiebe has shown to be a more than outstanding sportsman this tournament. Yet Meurs is also to be praised, for he gave little away. The draw was therefore entirely deserved.
Coach Rob Clerc
Dutch champion Alexander Baljakin played against Dul and had strong plans. Playing with black, he surprised his opponent in the opening and forced a middle game with perspective of interesting opportunities. The slip in the opening had made Dul extra alert and the game did not go well for Baljakin. Gradually Dul got an easier position and missed an opportunity that offered him favourable game. Baljakin played stiff and made a serious mistake in the late middle game through which Dul could have won. Instead he went for a safe and equal draw, which the players agreed on.
It was the question how Boomstra had handled his defeat against Schwarzman yesterday. On paper Artykow seemed a good opponent to wash away the blemish. Our highly acclaimed talent, however, had a bad day and the black player could not make a breach in the defence of his opponent. Artykow played cunning, grasped the position and for a moment it was feared that Boomstra would fall prey to disappointment and due to this would fall. Fortunately this did not happen and the Dutchman professionally wrapped things up to an equal draw. All in all the KNDB team could not really complain. With Alexander Baljakin they are still the race to crown the intense preparation of this tournament with a sparkling finish, though the clock is ticking.
Emmeloord can be proud of its champion Wiebe van der Wijk, It is true that the pressure on him is perhaps not as large as those affecting our KNDB stars, but his performance is therefore no less. He cleverly plays a draw with the great masters and does so without spoiling the game. Moreover, he seems to learn quickly from experience and it can be seen how talented the player is, obviously it is not without reason that he was the youth world champion. With black he played a classic game against Getmanski, who searched his chances in a Ghestem puncture. Van der Wijk actively opposed him and was heavily involved. The final division point was deserved.
The only decision in this round was in the game between Mogiljanski and Boezjinski. The white player did not keep an eye on the coverage of his front post and lost.
Tsjizjow made frantic attempts to demolish the Domchev wall. All the tools used, however, broke on the reinforced concrete and in the end he used a hammer to place a stake into the ground. Domchev put another vertical line on his wall.
Ndjofang and Amrillaew did a lot of counting... not on the position on the board, but on the tournament table. Undoubtedly, they experienced the settlement of the game as an extremely annoying happening, because there was a draw after twelve minutes without any frills. After that they both went to the scoreboard to estimate all the future possibilities and to calculate the tournament.
Georgiev will probably be world champion tomorrow....
Wiebe van der Wijk
